A majority Liberal Government will:
- Invest $31 million to support and grow our visitor economy by:
- Securing Tasmania’s Iconic Events
- Establishing an Events Support and Attraction Fund
- A Regional Events Recovery Fund
- Supporting the Unconformity Festival to continue and grow
The Tasmanian Majority Liberal Government has been a strong supporter of our events sector and we will build momentum in our visitor economy, with support to attract, retain and grow events, to drive growth tourism, economic growth and jobs in every region of the State.
Securing Tasmania’s Iconic Events
Tasmania’s diverse calendar of events is supported by a backbone of major sporting events and festivals that not only help celebrate and define our identity and bring their community together, but they are also large economic drivers.
A re‑elected Majority Liberal Government will take immediate action to secure the future of these events, providing a $21.5 million Fund to secure iconic Tasmania events.This Fund will enable new multi-year agreements to secure the future of:
- The Australian Wooden Boat Festival
- Dark Mofo
- Festivale
- Mona FOMA
- Targa Tasmania
- The Junction Arts Festival
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the return on investment for these events was $170 million and it is estimated they attracted nearly 40,000 visitors to Tasmania in 2019-20, and these iconic events will play a key role in driving our economic recovery from the pandemic and supporting jobs growth.
A re-elected Majority Liberal Government, through Events Tasmania, will commence negotiation with the organisers of these events within 30 days of being sworn in.
Events Support and Attraction Fund
Over the past seven years, Tasmania has hosted an exciting and diverse range of events, from markets to fairs and major sporting events, as well as major concerts and festivals such as the Marion Bay Falls Festival.
These events are part of the Tasmanian way of life, as well as an important part of the economy of our cities and regional communities, drawing thousands of visitors each year.
A re‑elected Gutwein Majority Liberal Government will work to not only secure events that already take place in our State, but attract new events to Tasmania, with our new $8 million Events Support and Attraction Fund.
The Fund will help draw tens of thousands more visitors to Tasmania, and support Events Tasmania to actively target and secure mass-participation events that deliver the greatest return for investment.
Regional Events Recovery Fund
As well as supporting major iconic and large events, a re-elected Majority Liberal Government will support community‑based events with a $1.5 million Regional Events Recovery Fund to support organisers to undertake activities that contribute to the sustainability of these rich events in regional areas.
The Fund will be targeted toward start-up or existing events in regional Tasmania, providing assistance for activities such as marketing or to engage short-term personnel to provide specialist advice in areas such as business development, risk management and evaluation measures to help improve long-term sustainability.
Start-up or existing events held in regions across the State will be eligible to receive support under the Fund.
Supporting the Unconformity Festival to thrive
Unconformity is a contemporary arts festival that showcases the unique West Coast and positively impacts on its community.
With the support of a Liberal Government, Unconformity has steadily evolved from a biennial arts festival into a world-class event and major drawcard for the West Coast visitor economy.
A re-elected Majority Liberal Government will provide $525,000 per annum, for the next four years, to cement its place alongside other major events on our annual calendar.
This funding is part of the $8 million Events Support and Attraction Fund.
Our record in Government:
We have delivered:
- The T21 Visitor Economy Recovery Action Plan, to grow our tourism and hospitality industries, growing jobs for Tasmanians and benefits for regional communities.
- The Event Ready Grant Program to help events succeed as we emerge from the pandemic.
- The $2.5 Million Event Infrastructure and Critical Support Small Business Grant program, providing critical event support infrastructure and other services that are essential to the running of events as part of the recovery of the visitor economy.
- Major sporting events, including the return of the National Basketball League to Tasmania, support for the Big Bash League, and major Australian Football League games in both Launceston and Hobart.
Labor-Green Government record:
The last Labor-Green government:
- Cut funding for tourism.
- The unemployment rate reached 8.6%.
- 10,400 jobs were lost between February 2011 and October 2013.
- Youth unemployment reached a high of 20.6% in December 2013.
Costings:
The cost of the policy is $31 million over five years.